Toonga returns at Merstham

Christian Toonga will make a return to match action for the Dons in tomorrow night’s Final Third Development League Cup match against Milton Keynes (7.00 pm kick-off at Merstham FC).

Following four away games for Alan Reeves’ development squad, it will be a first match this season at Merstham, a venue where Wimbledon’s youngsters enjoyed plenty of wins last season.

The return of Toonga (pictured above) will certainly boost the squad with the 17-year-old’s international clearance having come through. Toonga had an impressive trial spell playing for the Under-21s last season and Alan Reeves is looking forward to welcoming him back into the squad.

“For Christian now, it is about match fitness,” Alan said. “He has not missed any training and is injury free, but unfortunately he has not played a game for over two months since pre-season. It may be a case that we need to manage him on Monday and we will have to wait and see if he can play a full 90 minutes. He is a fit, young boy and I know he is champing at the bit to play.”

A very promising start to the season with a maximum six points out of six in the Final Third Development League has been followed by two defeats and Alan Reeves has challenged his squad to show what they are capable of once again.

Certainly, being back at Merstham for the first time this season is a place Alan has happy memories of after some great wins during the last campaign.

“We looked long and hard for a good venue to play our games at and we had a great relationship with Merstham FC last season,” said Alan. “I am looking forward to our first game there and I am hoping the boys are too. We turned Merstham into a bit of a fortress last season and we are hoping to keep that going this season. We have had a couple of below-par performances and the players who played in those games need to bounce back on Monday.

“I purposely never arranged a game for last week because the first-team had three matches in a week and the likes of Egli Kaja and Ryan Sweeney were in and out of it. It’s all about development for the boys, but no matter what age you are you want to win games. There is no better feeling after a match when you have won and played well. You feel better when you go into training and more confident. It’s not the be all and end all, but it would be nice to get back to winning ways.”